President Park Geun-hye ordered broadcasting regulators Monday to ensure that the industry won't fall into the hands of a handful of conglomerates, saying diversity and fairness are key to revitalizing the broadcasting sector.

Park issued the instruction during a joint policy briefing by the ministry of science and the Korea Communications Commission. She said the broadcasting industry strongly influences the economy and is directly related to people's everyday lives.

"Conglomerates, which have gotten into the broadcasting market, have been enlarging their influence, including increasing their broadcasting channels, recently. In the course of that, it is feared that small and medium-sized players will lose their presence and the broadcasting diversity will be hurt," Park said.

She called for a careful handling of the issue to ensure against monopolies.

Park also renewed her long-standing calls for sweeping deregulations to help realize her "creative economy" vision that calls for boosting the economy by creating new business opportunities, industries and jobs through the fusion of information and communication technology, culture and other realms. (Yonhap)